Constitutionality

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US Supreme Court

Case Name: Expressions Hair Design et al v. Schneiderman

Case No.: 15-1391

Focus: Constitutionality

This Court’s review is limited to whether §518 is unconstitutional as applied to the particular pricing scheme that, before this Court, petitioners have argued they seek to employ: a single-sticker regime, in which merchants post a cash price and an additional credit card surcharge

“Section 518 prohibits the pricing regime petitioners wish to employ. Section 518 does not define “surcharge.” Relying on the term’s ordinary meaning, the Court of Appeals concluded that a merchant imposes a surcharge when he posts a single sticker price and charges a credit card user more than that sticker price. This Court “generally accord[s] great deference to the interpretation and application of state law by the courts of appeals.” Pembaur v. Cincinnati, 475 U. S. 469, 484, n. 13. Because the interpretation of the Court of Appeals is not “clearly wrong,” Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc., 472 U. S. 491, 500, n. 9, this Court follows that interpretation.”

Vacated and Remanded

Concurring: Breyer, Sotomayor, Alito

Dissenting:

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